peopleofthedas | Vir Lath Sa'vunin Chapters Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four

A Dalish-centric AU gen fic featuring two Mahariel Wardens, one bastard prince, and lingering ghosts.

Title: Vir Lath Sa'vunin (We Love One More Day)
Rating: T (Language and Violence)
Authors: twist_shimmy and lenna_nightrunner
Post Word Count: 3180
Summary: When their parents died, Tesni Mahariel was left to raise her brother Caerwyn with the help of the rest of their clan. True to their penchant for getting into trouble, Caerwyn and Tamlen went hunting one day and ran afoul of a mirror, of all things. The next thing Tesni knew, Caerwyn had been recruited by the Grey Wardens. As if she’d let some shemlen just take her brother away! Determined to keep Caerwyn safe, Tesni goes after them, and antics ensue. She’ll stop the Blight to protect her family, Caerwyn will help--grumbling all the while--and Alistair will do his best to bond with his tattooed and bristly new brethren. When all is said and done, the blurred lines between friendship and blood bonds will draw them down a path that will change all three of them forever.

In which prejudices are confronted, apologies are made, and a new member joins the clan.

Twenty-Three: And I’m Aching, and I’m Aching, and I Move On (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club)

TESNI

It was hard not to smile over my porridge while listening to Alistair attempt to explain to my brother why shemlen men didn’t sleep together.

“Look, it’s just-- it means something.”

Caerywn wasn’t taking it well. “You sleep with Zev.”

“Zev wants in my trousers. It means something,” Alistair repeated.

“Indeed I do,” the assassin sighed, letting a spoonful of porridge dribble back into the bowl. “You are so cruel to rebuff me.”

“I don’t want in your trousers,” Caerwyn said to Alistair.

“Well that’s good, but--”

“So it’s fine.” Caerwyn drained his bowl and passed it to Wynne, then rose and began to break down our tent. Alistair turned to me, pink-cheeked with desperation.

“Could you please tell your brother what’s-- oh, no. Why are you shaking your head?”

I shrugged. “I’ve slept beside my brother since my parents died. Sleeping next to someone means you’re cold and there’s not much room in your aravel.”

Alistair buried his head in his hands, and Zevran laughed at him. “Think of it this way, my friend. You have two Dalish insisting you share their sleeping space. That makes you family!”

“Like you would know,” Alistair muttered.

“My mother was a Dalish, in fact.”

“...Oh.” I watched his shoulders crumple as he gave in. “Fine. But can you.... Can you stay in the middle?”

“You’d rather sleep beside her than her brother, then?” The assassin smiled. “And now I see!”

“What? I--no! We’re done here,” Alistair muttered, and rose to snatch everyone’s waterskins from their places on the ground. “I’ll be back,” he announced, and stalked off toward a nearby brook.

I waited until he was out of earshot before turning to face Zevran. “You don’t actually want either of them, do you?”

He gave me a merry smile. “No, but it is fun to watch them do their awkward dances.”

I couldn’t disagree with that. And, as I balanced my pack, I came to a strange conclusion: things... could be worse.

I smiled to myself and began strapping on my armor. “Caerwyn,” I called. “You know the way, right?”

My brother shrugged and continued folding the oiled canvas in his hands.

“Lead today. I want to take a detour into the woods.”

He turned and stared at me with our mother’s blue eyes. “...Come back with venison.”

That was the plan. And everything went according to plan until I was following the trail of the others, doe slung over my shoulders, and came across a stream. We’d been able to wipe the worst of the blood and travel grime off the night before, but this was the first day since reaching the mountains that it felt warm enough to actually wash my hair without killing myself.

Nothing was in the area, so I dropped the doe and sat on a rock beside the stream. It took several minutes to unbraid my forelocks, but once it all was loose I grabbed my cake of soap from my pack and dunked my head into the water.

Icy. I scrubbed at my scalp with my fingertips before taking the soap to my hair, keeping bent over to prevent the water from sliding down my neck and making the rest of me cold. Creators, but my teeth hurt.

I was about to rinse my hair when I heard a light footstep behind me on the leaves.

“Zevran.”

He stepped out from behind a tree. “Alert as always, my Warden.”

While he came to sit beside me, I rinsed and wrung out my hair. Once it was clean, I turned toward him and began finger-brushing my forelocks. “I doubt they just let you leave.”

He smiled. “Perhaps I should come back with you so they do not yell.” When I shrugged, he added, “It would be a sad thing for you to die before my debt to you is discharged, but you run into the woods on your own all the same.”

I shook my head. “There’s no debt. You’ve saved me in battle plenty of times.”

He raised an eyebrow. “So I am not yours?”

Such a flat-ear thing to say. “No.”

“I... see. Should I go, then?”

“Hardly. I like having you around, so if you want to stay, you’re more than welcome.” When he stared at me in surprise, I met his eyes. “Really, Zev.”

“Hmmm. My ruthless Warden trusts me after all.” I snorted, and he smiled. “You do. You have not once looked at your bow.”

“I have bigger problems,” I muttered, trying to piece what was meant to be braided and what was meant to be loose.

“Allow me to solve them for you, then.” He slid in closer, and I bowed my head to give him easier access to my forelocks. His hands were polite, and his fingers deft, and soon my braids were back and I felt far cleaner. I wrapped the soap in its waxed cloth and turned to find Zevran shouldering our dinner.

...Fine.

He didn’t speak as we traveled, and he followed behind me with light steps. Because of this, we came across a bear collapsed in the center of a clearing. It was breathing evenly, but the air reeked of blood.

If Zevran had been my brother, I would have whistled Stop. I go, but with Zevran I had to put my finger to my lips and hope that he wasn’t an idiot.

He wasn’t. He stopped against a tree and let me go in alone.

I’d been taught how to care for injured wolves by my clan, to make them companions like mabari, only less... needy. With all the fighting we’d been doing, it might be nice to have a bear, especially since my wolf hadn’t followed me from the forest. I didn’t blame him for not wanting to leave his clan.

But bears were stronger, and had no clan.

I decided. I stepped forward and began to sing the song I had been taught by the other hunters.

Ma dareth.
Dartisha adahllen.
Sahlin souveri,
Mahvir irthen,
Ar him na’falon,
Na ena nehn.[1]

It worked. It always worked. The bear’s eyes grew heavier with each repetition of the song, and soon I was kneeling beside it and inspecting its--her--injury. She was young, probably recently parted from her mother, and something larger had left great gashes down her side. Not darkspawn. With that in mind, I began to treat the wounds, still singing the song.

No infection. She would live.

“Ma hamin lethallan. Ar in shiral.” [2] I presented her with a hind leg of our doe. “Na’dar Da’rlasha. Ar in shiral.” [3]

Da’rlasha sniffed at her cleaned side and the poultice plastered to her skin, gazed at me, and then began to eat. The deal had been made. We left her to heal, and I knew that once she could travel she would seek out the party.

Zevran was silent as we continued our trek to the others. It was only at dinner that night that he brought up what had happened.

“Our Warden has a way with animals,” he mused when asked why he’d disappeared earlier, “as well as a lovely voice.”

Caerwyn groaned. “No. What this time?”

“A bear,” I replied, and he shook his head.

“Dog, bear. I want a cat.”

“A cat would never survive traveling like this, and you know it.”

My brother scowled and stalked off to our tent, and I turned back to the fire only to find Leliana staring at my tattoo with interest. “So it is true that you can make wild creatures obey you, then! I thought that was a myth like all the other Dalish stories I grew up hearing.”

I took a bite of venison. “What stories were those?” To my left, I saw Zevran intently sharpening his knives.

Alistair and Wynne had been speaking, but they fell silent as Leliana began to count myths off on her fingers. “Oh, Dalish murdering humans on sight, stealing babies and raising them for their own, robbing families on the roads. But I have seen none of that from you and your brother.”

My jaw clenched, and I set my food down on my plate. “Well, we’ve been on our best behavior for you shemlen.” Mercy of the Creators, what use would a human child be? “And there’s been enough game on the road to make baby-snatching unnecessary.”

Leliana’s eyes widened, and then she frowned. “Oh, I’ve offended you. I did not mean anything by it.”

“Of course not,” I replied. “Just like I don’t mean anything when I tell you all the rumors about Orlesian minstrels. But I haven’t seen you murdering, seducing, stealing, and backstabbing, so of course you shouldn’t take offense.”

“I-I--”

“Stop staring at our ears and our tattoos. It’s rude.”

“I don’t--”

“You do. And I was tolerant because I thought you were curious, but that’s not why you do it.”

Leliana’s eyes dropped to her hands. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Get over it. We don’t deserve you staring at us like we’re entertainment.”

“You’re not....”

“Good.” I picked up my venison and focused on my meal and the utter death of conversation surrounding me.

Caerwyn returned to ask to be on third watch because he was very tired. I divvied up our shifts and studied Leliana carefully as she turned her head toward my brother. I expected her to stare at the dark side of his face, but instead she seemed focused on his eyes as he grumbled about my new bear.

“She’s gonna show up and scare everyone.”

Zevran shook his head. “She is a very pretty bear.”

Alistair frowned. “Wait, we weren’t joking about the bear?” I shook my head, and he looked to the trees nervously. “I hate bears. Don’t sit watch with me. I don’t want it showing up when I’m half-asleep”

“Fine,” I sighed, and ruffled his hair. “Lel and I have first watch. Alistair, Shale, you take second. Sten and Caerwyn have third.”

“And I get a night off!” Zevran crowed, stretching happily.

Everyone split for their tents, leaving Alistair and me alone for a few moments. He was staring aimlessly into the fire, so I nudged him with my shoulder to get his attention.

“Go to bed.”

Alistair grabbed my arm. “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“For... putting you in charge. For assuming you didn’t have your own....” he trailed off, his gaze met mine, and I saw Tamlen’s name in the awkward lines around his eyes.

I shook my head. “You gave me something to do other than dwell.”

“Well, I want to say thanks, all the same. You’re--good, at this.”

“Go to bed,” I repeated, and he moved for our tent obediently. Leliana joined me as the rest of the camp fell silent, and we spent a long time listening and watching the stars, counting the hours until we could rouse someone else and give in to sleep.

Twenty-Four: We Won’t Be Together Much Longer Unless We Realize that We Are the Same (The Buzzcocks)

CAERWYN

Between the darkspawn and the mercenaries we met what felt like every half hour on the road back to Redcliffe, I couldn’t decide what I hated more--Loghain’s betrayal, or the blood in my veins that attracted the demons to us. But we kept off the roads at night, and that seemed to help us avoid attacks. When we did get attacked during the night the fights were so quick that half our party didn’t even wake up, but by the end of a travel day most of us were covered in more blood than even I’d tolerate.

This was a real problem when we fought darkspawn for everyone but Alistair, Tesni, Shale, and me, so Tesni decided that the four of us’d be at the front of the fray and the others would stay back. Zevran grumbled when Tesni told him he’d have to use a bow, and Sten was annoyed that his job was to protect Wynne, Leliana, and Zevran, but most of us agreed it was the best and safest arrangement in the end.

It became a treat for the others, then, when we finally fought mercenaries again instead of darkspawn near the end of our third day on the road to Redcliffe. Alistair and I were exhausted by that point and had to be very careful about not getting sloppy, but Zevran and Leliana more than made up for us.

As we fought, I wasn’t sure whose style I liked better--Zevran’s or Leliana’s. Zevran was as quick and precise as he’d been against the dragon, but I began to wish that Leliana’d been there fighting it with us. I’d never seen anyone fight like she did. She wasn’t as fast as Zevran. She wasn’t as fast as me. She probably wasn’t even as fast as Tesni. But she was, well... fearless.

I couldn’t think of any other way to describe it. Zevran and I always attacked from the back or sides of our enemies so we could do as much damage to them as possible while protecting ourselves. But Leliana faced them head-on. She cut into their chests and stomachs with her knives and swore in their faces or mocked them in Orlesian with a laugh in her voice. Her battle shouts almost sounded like music and I found my blood singing along, giving me the energy I needed to keep up in spite of my aching muscles and blistering palms.

“Sept,” she sang, and I counted her kills and translated: seven. Maybe she’d teach me Orlesian if I started being nicer to her.

“Siete,” shouted Zevran as he sliced the throat of the nearest qunari. Seven: a tie. And as I plunged my knife into a dwarf’s back I smirked.

“Eight.”

When what we hoped would be the last battle of the day was finished, we set up camp near a small stream. It wasn’t deep enough to bathe in, but we could at least wash most of the blood off ourselves. I began to feel like washing up was pointless because we’d probably be covered in blood again halfway through the next day, but Tesni called me lin’len and insisted that she wasn’t sleeping next to me or Alistair unless we cleaned ourselves up.

Alistair wasn’t happy when Tesni told him he’d be taking watch with Zevran. Tesni said, however, that since we’d run into so many darkspawn on the road that day it made the most sense to have a Warden on each watch. And Tesni was the leader, so no one could argue with her. She put me with Leliana and sat her watch with Sten and Shale.

Watch with Leliana was painfully awkward for the first half hour. I spent the time rolling my shoulders and stretching the tendons and muscles in my hands and wrists. When I finally couldn’t take the silence anymore I looked up at her.

“You, um... You’re a good fighter.”

“Am I?” I suddenly realized that what I’d meant to be a compliment might’ve sounded condescending, but she smiled faintly. “Not as good as Zevran.”

I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice. “Yeah,” I said with a shrug. No one seemed to be as good as Zevran.

“And I’ve never seen anyone as skilled with a bow as your sister,” Leliana said, her admiration obvious.

“She’s always been the best at it,” I said. “But I’m pretty good with knives.”

“False modesty doesn’t suit you, Caerwyn,” said Leliana. “You are always so honest.”

I snorted. “Too honest.”

“I prefer that to lying,” she said quietly, and there was a distant look in her eyes. She’d been lied to too much before, then. I changed the subject.

“You like talking to your enemies.”

Leliana flushed. “I suppose I do.”

I shifted awkwardly. “Would you, um,” I shrugged, trying to look like I wasn’t that interested, “teach me some Orlesian? To pass the time.”

Her face lit up in a close-mouthed but bright smile. “It would be my pleasure.”

All of the tension and awkwardness disappeared. She spent an hour speaking only Orlesian, pointing to things nearby and naming them, then I repeated the words. She’d smile when I got them right and shake her head and laugh when I mispronounced them or mixed them up when I said them back to her.

“Bleu,” she said, pointing to my eyes.

“Bleu,” I echoed. “Eyes?”

“Non,” she said. “Bleu. Le couleur bleu.”[4] She pointed instead to the knife belt she’d bought from a merchant near the Circle Tower instead. She loved it because the leather was dyed a deep blue, which she said was her favorite color.

“Oh, blue!” I felt like an idiot. The word sounded almost exactly the same in common. When she smiled and examined the color of my eyes more closely, I looked away.

Dalasen wandered up and lay down next to her. As Leliana scratched his head fondly she said, “Le chien.” A dog. The dog.

“But if he were female, it’d be la chien?”

“Oui, très bon![5] You learn very quickly, Caerwyn.”

“I like languages,” I said. “Orlesian’s pretty.”

Shepaused, then looked back down at Dalasen. “Il s’appelle Elgar’nan.”[6]

“Non,” I said. “Il s’appelle Dalasen.”[7]

Leliana laughed. If Tesni’d been awake, she would’ve grumbled.

I sighed and stared at my boots as I thought about whether or not I was going to say it. I didn’t want to, but it was time.

“How do you say... ‘I’m sorry’?”

She gave me a strange look. “Je suis dèsolè.”

I looked back down at the ground and said quietly, “Je suis dèsolè.”

“Pour quoi?”[8]

Come on, what else would I be sorry for? You’d that yelling at someone for staring at you’d make a big impression.

“That, um....” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. “That first night.”

She flushed again and we were both quiet for a moment. Then she said, “Merci[9], Caerwyn, but the fault is mine. Since I met you and your sister, I have compared you with the people I had heard about in stories. It’s rude and... and I was wrong to have made such assumptions. Please forgive me.”

I stared at her. Where was this coming from? I hadn’t noticed the way she’d been acting lately, but I’d made a point of not spending too much time around her.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.” Then I pulled out one of my knives and pointed to it. “What’s this?”

Leliana taught me the words for everything we could find in the area until Tesni came out to tell me our watch was over. She smirked at me as I knelt to crawl into the tent and I looked at her suspiciously, but she didn’t say anything.
Alistair spent the time until his watch snoring against my ear and was horrified when he woke up to find his arm draped over my chest. I smirked as he clambered out of the tent and Tesni claimed the warm spot where he’d been sleeping. “Silly brother,” she said, and I hid my face against her shoulderblade and drifted back into sleep.

[1] You are safe.
Be at peace, forest child.
Now you are weary
But tomorrow you’ll wake,
I’ll be your friend,
and you’ll feel joy.

[2] You’ve become my friend. Travel with me.

[3] Your name is Da’rlasha. (little piece of home)

[4] Blue. The color blue.

[5] Yes, very good!

[6] He is called Elgar’nan.

[7] No. He is called Dalasen.

[8] Why?

[9] Thank you.

"Oh, I've offended you. I did not mean anything by it."

Vir Lath Sa'vunin Chapters Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four

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